8/9/2019 Why ESP Might Not Achieve Its Objective

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ByTISATEAM

U N D E Rthe currentbudget, thegovernmentinitiated theE c o n o m i c

S t i m u l u sPro g ra mme

(ESP), intended to revitalize the economyby deliberately allocating money tokey sectors such as education, health,infrastructure and small scale businessesat the constituency level.

The ESP was introduced in response tothe effects of the post election violence, theprolonged 2007-8 drought and the globalrecession, which saw the local economycrash to less than 1% growth in early 2008.

The ESP sought to jumpstart economicgrowth, to support the objectives of the

Vision 2030 which is premised on 10%

economic growth for the next 20 years.Under the 2009/10 budget titled

Overcoming Todays Challenges for aBetter Kenya Tomorrow, Finance MinisterUhuru Kenyatta allocated Kshs. 22 billionto the stimulus. The ESP is directed at corepoverty programs and sectors that havealready been prioritized in the Vision 2030.It is directed chiefly towards infrastructureprojects at the constituency level with a

view to injecting large amounts of cashdirectly into the local economy.

Approximately Kshs. 105 million was to beinjected into the 210 constituencies within

6 months under the ESP program, a targetthe Ministry has entirely failed to meet. Inan unusual step the Ministry of Financearrogated itself the key implementing role,and so presently the ESP is coordinatedby the Ministry of Finance at the nationallevel.

The design of the ESP program soughtto create a harmonised implementationframework and created the SPMC orStimulus Project Management Committeeto coordinate the implementation of theprogram at constituency level. However,education projects are managed separatelythrough the District InfrastructureCoordination Team.

The Stimulus Project ManagementCommittee (SPMC) is composed of MPs,

The Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer ofthe CDFC, The District Public Works Officer,DCs, DDOs, District Accountant, the CDFFund Account Manager (an ex-officio) and

District Heads of relevant departments aswell as seven community representatives.

The work of the committee is to identifyproject locations; make recommendationsfor payment and oversee implementationof the ESP projects.

ESP Sectors

In the education sector ESP hasindentified the objective of improving thequality of education to all Kenyans. Projectsundertaken include: reconstructing twoprimary schools in each constituency-with

water harvesting facilities at a cost of Kshs.7

million each; reconstructing or upgradingto national level [centres of excellence]one secondary school in each constituencyat a cost of Kshs.30 million; recruiting 50primary school teachers per constituencyunder a 3 year contract at Kshs.10,000monthly; recruiting 10 secondary school

teachers per constituency under a 3-yearcontract at Kshs.14,000 monthly andestablishing a Kshs.60,000 tree fund for 20primary schools in each constituency.

The health programme is designed toconstruct and equip a model health facilityin every constituency as a first step in thethree-year plan with a total cost of Kshs. 4billion. Each constituency will receive Kshs.20 million. The programme will involve thehiring of 4,200 nurses 20 of whom will bestationed in every constituency receivingKshs.13, 000. In addition, medical kitsand vaccines worth Kshs. 1 billion will beprocured by Kenya Medical Supplies Agency

to be distributed countrywide.The ESP focuses at addressing the missing

markets and facilitating commerce, tradeand rural enterprise development throughconstructing fresh produce and wholesalemarkets in 210 constituencies at a cost ofKshs. 10 million each.

Furthermore, the ESP aims at reducingreliance on rain-fed agriculture througha multi-purpose regional development

with initial rice/maize production at Bura,Hola, Pekerra, Tana Delta, Kibwezi, Ahero,

West Kano, Bunyala, Mwea and South WestKano.

The programme intends to promoteRegional Development for equity andsocial stability through the establishmentof Constituency Industrial DevelopmentCentres (CIDC) popularly known as JuaKali Sheds. This will be achieved through:Construction of 1 jua kali shed in eachconstituency at a cost of Kshs. 2.5 millionand further purchase welding andfabrication equipment for jua kali shedsin each constituency at a cost of Kshs.1million.

In a bid to improve nutrition and createover 120,000 employment and incomeopportunities, ESP has seen the construction

of 200 fish ponds in 140 constituenciesfor fish farming at a cost of Kshs.40, 000each.

Efforts made by Ministry of Finance towards

accountability

The architects of the ESP made greatpains to forestall subversion of itsprocurement processes. The Ministryof Finance issued specific guidelines toensure that local contractors would be

The Economic Stimulus Programme hadthree major objectives. Firstly, stimulate theeconomy during the global financial crisis.Secondly, the programme would increaseemployment opportunities in production,processing and marketing of maize andrice produce. Thirdly, the irrigated maizeand rice locally produced would eliminatethe need for huge food imports and leadto saving of valuable foreign exchange.

ESP: Was it too much too soon?

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isa.or.ke

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8/9/2019 Why ESP Might Not Achieve Its Objective

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the principle beneficiaries of ESP jobs. TheMinistry of Public Works was mandated todesign, draw Bills of Quantities (BQs) andsupervise infrastructural projects to preventthe over-inflation of costs commonlyassociated with government procurement

jobs. The Ministry, on its website http://www.publicworks.go.ke says it completedthe drawings and Bills of Quantities (BQs)for a total of 1,280 projects and forwardedto Treasury for further guidance and also tofacilitate tendering.

The Ministry also established a veryclear reporting and accountabilitystructure designed to ensure separation ofresponsibility and to minimize opportunitiesfor collusion. They also took great pains toestablish monitoring units to ensure soundprogress of the ambitious plan.

But that notwithstanding, ESPimplementation around the country has

been interminably delayed. Eleven monthsdown the line, most projects are eitherincomplete or have not commenced. As weapproach the beginning of a new financialyear we ask the question; What went wrong

with the ESP? Was it too much too soon?

ESP - Was it too much too soon?

This potentially good programme hasbeen marred by slow implementation,stunting its potential to fully benefit thepublic. This can be traced back to thenational office where the ESP was designed

without adequate consultation of variousimplementing stakeholders. Government

officials have been overshadowed by theMPs and CDF committee members interms of implementation. This has led topolitical animosity and delays in projectsdue to quiet resistance from governmentdepartments resentful of CDFs growingstature in local development across thecountry.

The institutional structure of the ESPprogram suggests that the program itselflies mid-way between decentralization and

centralization given the heavy involvementof the centre and the limited involvementof the local population. In this sense ESPcomes very close to the defunct DistrictFocus for Rural Development (DFRD).

By according the Constituency

Development Fund a leading role incoordination of the ESP, the Ministryof Finance has served to muddle analready cluttered and confused sector,

which is suffering from too many parallelimplementation structures. The CDFsown inability to fully absorb CDF fundsis one of the reasons that motivated theestablishment of the CDF review taskforcein June 2009. District government alsohas a long standing unfortunate traditionof low absorption capacity. In designinga Kshs. 22 billion program with intentionto execute it in six months, the Ministry ofFinance was being unrealistic and the slow

implementation comes as no surprise. There is a lack of proper flow of

information on the progress of the ESPprojects. Only a handful of people knowabout the existence of the fund, and fewerstill have details of the specific projectsearmarked for it.

There is confusion between projectsfunded by ESP and those funded by CDFsince the Member of Parliament is thepatron of both funds. This confusion on thepart of citizens about what project is fundedby which fund is a blessing in disguise forsitting Members of Parliament as it providesfor better campaign platforms.

Community representatives are to beselected by the Member of Parliament, andas experience with the CDF demonstratessuch positions are largely awarded topolitical cronies and sycophants of the MP.

There has been contestation about thegeneralization of projects specificationsand selection of projects. In some areasthe selected projects may ignore morepressing needs of the community, which

may undermine the utility of the selectedprojects.

So, what Stimulus does Local Development

in Kenya need?

The possibility for a second stimulus hasbeen mooted, but is premature. Without

completion of the present cycle, theMinistry would not be justified in using itssweeping powers to spearhead anotherstimulus. Rather it needs to commit itself tocompletion of the identified projects underthe next financial year to ensure equitableopportunity across constituencies.

Under the new financial year however,the Ministry needs to bring the citizen andfinal beneficiary of the projects on board.

This can be done through proactive sharingof information on project lists, namesof final projects, contractors and regularreporting meetings at constituency levelto keep citizens abreast of the status of

development in their constituency.

The bitter lesson that central governmenthas been evading for too long now, is theneed to effectively devolve resources withthe needed administrative capacity tohandle money transferred to the local level.

There is also a need to clearly identify theunit of development to put an end to theunhealthy competition between CDF andother development processes. There is needto institute transparency in procurementprocesses to make the procurement processand records open to public scrutiny at allstages of the process.

Lastly, Members of Parliament need toget out of local project implementationonce and for all and prevent politicisationof the local development.

So will the ESP become another whiteelephant? That depends on whether theMinister of Finance is committed to finishing

what he started under the 2011-12 FinancialYear. Lets wait and see what happens.

Does your community have any

projects being implementedby the Economic StimulusProgramme? Tell us about it atwww.facebook.com/tisakenya

ESP costructig fhpodin ac costituecy.

Why ESP might not achieve its objectives

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